New Tornado Watch

The SPC has issued a tornado watch for the Starkville area until 11 p.m. tonight. Temperatures spiked this afternoon in the lower 70s ahead of the main swath of rain. Currently, temperatures are running around 65 with dew points up to 62 in Starkville. A thunderstorm has passed through the area within the last 30 minutes and dropped about 0.10" of rain.


The bigger story developing at this hour is the tornado warnings that are in effect for Yazoo and Holmes County. In fact, the storm in Yazoo County has looked extremely impressive for the last 45 minutes and has produced a large tornado according to spotters. This dangerous storm is on the leading edge of a warm front that is beginning to move northward. This storm will move to the northeast and could approach Oktibbeha County in the next couple of hours. If the warm front continues progressing to the north and this storm is within 25 miles of the front, it will continue to pose a high risk of tornadoes. It's most likely to outrun the warm front and become more elevated with time, which will somewhat reduce the risk of a tornado. Behind this supercell is the main squall line that will move through the area later tonight and will pose a higher threat of damaging winds, but an isolated tornado cannot be ruled out given the magnitude of the low level shear. I'll have another update later this evening.